MIPJunior to Highlight Digital Kids

Reed MIDEM has announced the launch of the new Digital Kids! full-day conference program at this year’s MIPJunior, focusing on kid’s programming in the digital age.

MIPJunior, the international showcase for children’s programming, will take place Oct. 6 and 7, on the eve of the MIPCOM entertainment content market Oct. 8-11 in Cannes, France.

Digital Kids! will take place Oct. 7, bringing together creators of leading kid’s brands from the web and social media, with producers, broadcasters and publishers.

Among the companies whose digital content strategists will be attending this year’s event are The Walt Disney Company, Cartoon Network, RTL Disney Fernsehen, CBeebies Production and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

Digital Kids! events will include:

A discussion with Misha Lyalin, chief executive officer of ZeptoLab, creators of the hit app property Cut the Rope. Lyalin will share insights into how global entertainment brands are now starting with mobile and discuss what’s next for Zeptolab as the company continues to move beyond the mobile screen.

Kids IP: Great Ideas are Media Agnostic!: A session featuring Josh Selig, president and owner of Little Airplane Productions whose property Small Potatoes started as a short-form preschool series and turned into a teen Facebook hit that is now being made into a feature film. Other panelists will include Josh Atkins, senior design director for Microsoft; and Todd Slepian, senior producer for interactive TV at Sesame Workshop. who will present Kinect Sesame Street TV, a new two-way TV experience exclusive to the Xbox 360 Kinect system.

Dr. Barbie Clarke, managing director of the U.K. market research firm Family Kids and Youth will speak.

MIPJunior International Pitch: A public pitching session designed to reveal new talents able to develop kid’s content on multiple platforms and at a global level. The session will be led by Andy Heyward, co-founder and chief executive officer, A Squared Entertainment, and include representatives from key digital players like Mind Candy and Ankama.

How to Create for Digital Kids: A panel discussion that will explore creative ways of addressing this new generation of young digital viewers.

A focus on Teen Fresh TV and the top shows in social media where attendees will find out which youth channels around the world have the most social interaction and which new teen shows are generating the most traffic on social media.

Meet the Digital Producers: An opportunity for one-on-one meetings with content pioneers who are working in cross-media storytelling, including representatives from Aardman Digital, 9 Story Entertainment and Zodiak Media.

A variety of other sessions will feature topics such as new digital funding sources and the app business model.